"Fence"You'll penetrate what I think when I spit out these chinks
In my armor, shedding my sword for words in this war,
Sharp broken stabs of syllables, parables, fables, filthy and able--
Molotov cocktails of justice between us, just us,
I respond to your cash lust with love lust--
Pushed thus by people pushing me down in their hearts
Heathen thoughts of turning my cheek to their thoughts
But I listen to learn while waiting my turn to return
Hatred with respect, having inspected my neck for nooses
Of my mind, maddened malice cinched over time,
Bitter from your crimes in our shared time.
Stuck with you in this age, feeling burning, dire, deadly rage--
Dealing dilemmas of martin or malcolm and guns or gandhi
Of church and state vs. my state of being, just living and seeing
Sights unwanted by those in my city, shut eyes replace pity.
No one knows that brothers exist on the other side of the fence,
Since we make it ourselves--hell, I've bought carpenter's nails,
Spent nights on my knees hammering myself in a jail.
But my cell has grown cold so I sold it for parts
To be a part of worlds outside with the wild,
Worthy truth as my bride and love as my child.
1/9/2003
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